‘Star Wars: The Force Awakens’ Seizes VFX Oscar Momentum

'Star Wars: The Force Awakens' Seizes VFX Oscar Momentum

ILM came on strong Tuesday night at the 16th VES Awards at the Beverly Hilton Hotel, with “Star Wars: The Force Awakens” winning top honors for Photoreal Feature and “The Revenant” right behind with the Supporting VFX prize for its acclaimed grizzly bear. ILM took home a total of 7 awards, while Pixar’s box office disappointment, “The Good Dinosaur,” beat Oscar frontrunner “Inside Out” — which won only for Joy’s performance — for the big animation VFX trophy. And “Game of Thrones” earned best TV VFX honors, taking home three prizes.

Therefore, the Oscar Force looks good for “Star Wars,” which faces strong competition from both “Mad Max: Fury Road” — which won for The Toxic Storm — and “The Revenant.” History reveals that the VES winner has gone on to win the VFX Oscar nine out of the previous 13 years. However, last year “Interstellar” beat VES winner “Rise of the Planet of the Apes” and, likewise, in 2011 “Hugo” (best supporting VES winner) defeated VES winner “Dawn of the Planet of the Apes.”

Kate Mara presented Ridley Scott with the Lifetime Achievement Award, and former Digital Domain head Scott Ross presented the Visionary Award to concept designer Syd Mead. Scott ticked off all of the VFX challenges he’s faced, from “Alien” to “The Martian.” The director concluded that it’s an “artistic science” and that it “must be real.” For his part, Mead, who broke into movies with “Blade Runner,” told me afterward that Scott’s visual prowess held it all together as a believable world, and is encouraged by Scott admitting that the opening of “Blade Runner 2” will recycle a rejected idea for the original: a bucolic farm setting rather than the iconic dystopian reveal.